The Conversation Starter

Those are just a few of the very many comments I have received this past month. But who can blame them? I mean my daughter enters the room before I do now. I’m eight months now, so I am only anticipating April’s arrival. But the reactions that I receive from strangers as well as regular customers are hilarious. I work in the customer service field sitting at a desk, so no one really sees my stomach unless I’m standing up. A few customers have started noticing as I sit at my desk because I push the chair further back in order to give my belly some breathing room. One customer even asked if I had swallowed a watermelon for lunch because he had no idea I was expecting until I walked over to the break room.

So apparently other customers were afraid of asking me personally if I was pregnant to avoid offending me (if I wasn’t of course). One piece of advice that I would give to anyone is that even if you are almost certain that a woman is pregnant, never ask her. She will be so hurt if she isn’t. Anyway, the customers asked my coworkers before bringing it up to me. There were one or two people who have asked without second guessing it, so luckily I am.

As I approach my last month of pregnancy, I have pretty much been trying to find the right words to explain how pregnancy feels like. At first it felt so surreal, seeing as how it came so unexpected. The second that my daughter started kicking me was when I started mentally preparing myself for her arrival. I think that has been the best feeling of them all: watching and feeling her move in my belly. Even though she doesn’t let me sleep at times, I get my camera ready every chance that I get and show her father how she keeps me up through the night. I’m actually pretty excited that he feels her so much more now. He thought she was being shy with him when in reality, she’s shy when anyone other than us touches my belly. I feel like at this moment, I’m the only thing protecting her from everything, and of course her father is always protecting the both of us.

I can’t say that the entire pregnancy has been picture perfect. I would be lying if I said it was. There have been a few moments where my mood swings and my emotions get the best of me. Bodily changes are also something that I haven’t been too comfortable sharing, even with my boyfriend at times. I thought I had avoided stretch marks from using so much oils. However, they appeared after my 31st week of pregnancy on the bottom of my stomach. I couldn’t see them at first because of course I can’t see anything down there anymore. Even though it’s not picture perfect, it is such a blessing for me. These memories and these scars will always remind me of this amazing experience. There’s always a first time for everything, but I honestly have never felt a love like this, a little us is something I never thought could be possible, but she’s almost here. Six more weeks!